Choosing Motherboard/CPU, need help please

[Eric35]

Hi folks,

I'm finalizing the hardware for my next homebuilt, and for motherboard I'm considering the ABIT NF7-S or ASUS A7N8X-E DELUXE Rev.2.0, or possibly GIGABYTE GA-7N400 Pro2. Can you help me with the relative pros and cons of each?

For CPU I like the Barton XP2800, but I was told also that XP2500 can be overclocked easily to FSB 400, and may be a better choice.

My highest priority is a stable and trouble free machine made up of tried and tested components (so I'm staying away from 64 bits, and any substantial overclocking). My next highest priority is speed, and the third priority a quiet system. I'll be using the new machine mostly for CPU-intensive stuff such as audio editing and compression, but only occasionally for fast 3D video or games.

Thank you all very much!

Eric

[dl65]

Eric35.....Given what you plan on doing.....why not consider a P4 3.2 or 3.4 Ghz processor ...then select the board or if your partial to AMD go with the Barton and pick the board that suits ....
As far as sound and Vid is concerned your the one who will be using it .......If you ask 10 people , you will probably get 10 differant answers.
The other consideration is the cost.
Hope this helps.

dl65  

[Eric35]

Thanks, and yes, I am partial to AMD... the place I'm kind of stuck, is very much "picking the board that suits..." The  ABIT NF7-S or ASUS A7N8X-E DELUXE seem to be the closest, but I find it very hard to get a feel for them  just from from what I can read in web pages. I would like to be able to get input about the boards from those who are actually familiar with them.  

[dl65]

Eric35.....Hi again , I just had a good look at the detailed specs on both boards. They both look very similar ......but I see that the ABIT only supports a max of 2gb of DDR 400  or a max of 3 gb of slower Ram . While the ASUS will take 3gb of  DDR 400. I havent checked the prices but I would go for the ASUS .....I have had 3 Asus boards and they have never let me down.....I guess you could say I'm partial to them .....
With either .....just pop in a vid card and away you go .

Good luck .

dl65  

[Raptor]

I have a GA 7N400-Pro. Must say that I am contempt with it, even though I had a few issue with it.

As for overclocking: Unless you have experience in doing so, AMD is allready running much hotter than Intel so you may as well buy a faster CPU rather than overclock. The CPU life cycle will be longer and you'll have the same results for a little bit more money.

Barton is replaced by the Sempron line.